Liquids and other fluidizable materials have long been shipped and stored in drums. A typical drum is a fifty five gallon drum formed of steel. More recently fifty five gallon drums formed of plastic materials have become common. Both the steel and plastic drums have conventional offset bung holes in the top or lid through which the drums are filled and emptied and vent holes diametrically opposed to the bung holes.
A relatively recent development is the use of flexible drum liners that protect the drum interior from contact with the fluid. Flexible liners are most effective when the liner configuration is identical to the drum interior to facilitate conformity of the liner to the drum interior. One of the problems associated with the use of drum liners is the proper orientation of the liner in the drum. As a result of the offset bung hole in the top of the drum the opening in every liner that conforms to a drum interior must be at a location on the liner to align with the bung hole. If the opening in the liner is misaligned, the liner can not be completely filled and a tension stress will be imposed on the liner.
In addition, historically drums, whether steel or plastic have customarily been reconditioned for reuse. In effect, an entire industry exists to remove all traces of the contents of the drums and safely dispose of the contents. In view of the hazardous nature of many of the liquids found in the drums and the hazardous nature of the chemicals used to recondition the drums, the problem of disposing of the contents in the drums and the liquids used to recondition the drums in an ecologically safe manner has arisen. Consequently, destroying and recycling the drum instead of reconditioning the drum is less detrimental to the environment because hazardous chemicals which damage the environment are not used.